Customer Reviews for Frost King 18 ft. Automatic Electric Heat Cable Kit

Used in Colorado cold to keep my RV hose from freezing the water. It works extremely well. I enjoy the light showing it works, and that it only uses electricity to power it when it reaches a certain low temperature. I use this in conjunction with fiberglass insulation (by Frost King) and some foam. This has surpassed my expectations.

Website description is deceiving. The packaging says this is "Water Pipe Heating Cable," not the kind of cable that can be put in a gutter to keep in unfrozen as "Electric Heat Cable"might imply. The problem is that the thermostat is like a button that needs to be held against a pipe, so it can monitor temperature and turn on and off. This type of thermostat will not reliably work based on air temperature. I suppose if you put the cable in a gutter and that section of the gutter near the thermostat iced up, the thermostat would turn on. But what if the icing is somewhere else along the 30 ft cable? No heat. This is why some people are saying it worked one year, but not the next. I called the manufacturer and they said they would work with Home Depot to fix the reviews. If you look at the picture of the box (below), you're wondering how I made the mistake to buy this, thinking I could put it in my frozen gutters? Two words: Curbside pickup. I urgently ordered it based on the description of the item (there is no picture of the package on the website).

I’m in NJ. I use the heat tape to keep my fig tree frost-free in the winter.

My sprinkler manafold froze before I had it blown out. The night temp droped to 15 degrees. I bot the 12' heat cable kit and taped it to the pipe feeding my sprinkler valves and also the valves them selves. I put the wire on the bottom of the pipe, since heat rises. I also put a thin layer of insulation over the valves to keep the heat in. 24 hours later the pipes were thawed ( day time temp stayed at freezing) and I was able to have the sprinklers blown out. This product worked quicker than I expected, and was very easy to tape in place using electrical tape. Just to make sure to tape the sensor to the pipe you want to thaw as it will turn it's self on when needs to.

I installed this last winter and it failed the very next winter causing my pipes to freeze.

Sump pump pvc froze solid after 3 days in -10*. Wrapped all 18ft around the outlet for a few hours and put a new hose on the end and it's was completely thawed and pumping again . Saved me having to do any work. Maybe this will help others in the same boat

This product is a life saver when it comes to not having your pipes freeze up. I wish I had installed this a last year.

We had a frozen pipe on the north side of house, which was the main line from the water meter that feeds into our house. Basically we didn't have any water in the house because this line was frozen. Bought the 12ft cable went under the crawl space and installed per the directions using electrical tape to hold it in place. Plugged it in and after less than 1 minute the line thawed and we had water again. Product is a life saver and I highly recommend it. Just FYI I'm in Oklahoma so its not as cold as other places but still.. you get the point.

The cable is not too stiff and is easy to work with. You definitely want to read the instructions carefully so you install the cable and the temperature sensor correctly. The light on the plug is helpful to know it has power. But, it is difficult to verify that it works until the pipe temperature drops below 34 degrees. I wish the power cable were longer. I will note that I couldn't easily reach the entire length of pipe I was trying to warm (under an outdoor kitchen). But, I was able to wrap the cable around the pipe and pull it tight. Where I could reach, I mounted to the bottom of the pipe, adhered with electrical tape, and added pipe insulation over the top. That seemed to do the trick, although in Texas, it doesn't get too cold or stay cold for long.

Contrary to what the Home Depot employees will tell you, this item can be used in a gutter. The manufacturer confirms this on the Home Depot Q&A section. It works well to eliminate ice dams in gutters. I only plug the cable in when needed and has lasted all winter.

Used this to prevent bulk rock salt from freezing in salt spreader. ( Not designed use) bulk salt if moist will freeze in single digits rendering salt useless when needed most. In stead of having to break apart and shovel out of hopper I can leave it in for frequent snow storms. Kept salt from freezing last night when it got down to -5f. Same salt froze in my loader bucket. Bottom line if it can do this it will work for your pipes.

Wow. I wish I had installed this years ago. Every year our water pipes, on the north side of the cottage, would freeze up when the temperatures dropped into the teens. I would have to run the electric heater for several hours to get the water to flow again or blow heat from the kerosene heater into the crawl space, which I did last year. The foam insulation I put on the pipes did little to prevent the pipes from freezing. After I install a 12 foot heating coil on the cold water pipe and a six foot line on the hot water pipe, it worked like a charm. Hardest part was wrapping the foil back fiberglass installatiion around the pipes after installing the heating coil. Be sure to wear a good air mask and goggles. Temperatures were in the low single digits last night and even below zero the other day and still the water didn't freeze. Didn't even have to drip the faucets. I am so grateful I put it in this year. I would highly recommend this for anyone having frozen pipes. Also I called Frost King to ask them a question about the installation and it was great to have a real person on the other side of the line. I'm a happy customer. Thanks Frost King and thanks Home Depot.

Is very good product for keeping hot pipes

I haven’t used it. I need to bring it back. I got the wrong size.

It did not work as advertised. We checked it (per instructions) and it worked. When we put it on frozen pvc pipe, it did not heat up.

Easy to apply with good instructions. Like the light at the plug so you can tell the tape is heating. The only downside for me was the limited lengths available, so I had to use ones longer than needed to cover enough pipe. Worked great through several days of well below freezing cold.

The cable is helping to keep the pipes from freezing.